“Trick or treat!”“Well, aren’t you all well-dressed tonight. Those are some impressive costumes!” Holding out their bags, the three watched eagerly as the kindly older lady dropped a small handful of candy into each of their bags. Giving her a wave as they walked back to the sidewalk, the three wasted no time in looking through the latest additions to their confectionary collections.“Not a bad haul so far. How long did you want to keep going?”“Well, we don’t have class tomo

It’s said that there are certain places where you can find almost anything you want, if you know where to look. Ul’dah, Limsa Lominsa, Radz-at-Han, Kugane, and others besides - such major trading hubs offer access to untold arrays of strange and exotic novelties for the curious.Stepping through the markets of Kogane Dori, the white-haired Xaela was taking her time inspecting the different stalls and shops. Not looking for anything in particular, she was just enjoying the opportunity to see

Looking outside through one of the windows near the front of the building, Rhea narrowed her eyes as she scanned the street outside. This time, there should be at least a few people out and about, but there was nobody at all that she could see.That meant that they likely knew something that she didn’t.At least she didn’t need to leave things completely unattended; ordinarily she wouldn’t have wanted to leave at any point while one of the shipments was at the trading post, but Nelly and Ad

Watching as the racers sped around the far side of the improvised circuit, Darla had to admit that even though this wasn’t how she had anticipated spending her night, there might actually be something to this whole racing thing, at least when you had a stake in it.The whole thing had started a few hours ago now, when some of Harley’s friends had stopped by the diner just as they were about to close. She had met Christine and Caren a few times previously, but never for any significant length

Sighing as she looked at the checkout line snaking past in front of her, Sachiho was once again reminded of why she preferred to do her shopping on weekdays.There were just too many people, and all of them seemed to have all of the time in the world.On a weekday, a good portion of people would still be at work, which on its own meant that there would be significantly fewer people out and about during the day, which was generally enough to solve the problem on its own. Conversely, while there wo

“Alright, that should be almost all of it. Now we just need the others to arrive and we can get started.”Standing up, Stella stretched a bit to loosen a knot in her back, and looked over her handiwork on the floor one last time. Her latest purchase from Ms. V’s shop had yielded more than a few interesting options, along with a rather stern warning from Ms. V herself to make sure that she was properly prepared before attempting anything in it. Looking through it, she could tell almost im

Old moldering house in an isolated location? Check. Persistent rumors about the owners that hint at all sorts of unsavory activities? Check. Local population too scared to even go near it due to the reputation of the previous owners? Double check. And now there was apparently something inside that had developed a taste for the locals.All in all, it sounded like another straightforward job.Looking up at the large mansion, it was hard for Elizabeth to keep her expression anything resembling p

Slowly stepping through the trees, a solitary figure made her way towards a small clearing in the woods. Looking around, before nodding once, it shivered for a moment before a dense cloud sprayed into the air above them, filtering down and filling the clearing. There was a second burst, then a third, and after a moment the figure nodded again and continued moving.Now the waiting began.- - - Later that day - - -Stephanie had always loved camping. Spending time outdoors in general was something

“To all of our passengers, I would like to welcome you to tonight’s trip. Our estimated travel time is just over 16 hours, and we will be arriving at approximately 2 PM tomorrow afternoon. Light refreshments are always available in the dining car, and breakfast will begin at 6 AM. As a final reminder, the forward car is for first class passengers only. We hope you enjoy your trip with us, and wish you a pleasant evening.”Watching as the lights of the station slowly faded into the dista

“And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, it’s time to see who will come out on top for this year’s Monster Mash Bodybuilding Competition!”One by one the spotlights snapped on, illuminating the runway projecting from the end of the stage, and as the crowd roared their approval, the contestants for the most anticipated section of the year’s final beach party began to step out one by one. While most other festivals happened in the summer, people were hungry for this kind of

“Good night, everyone! Hope you had fun!”Giving the departing guests a wave from the door, Amy swung the door shut before turning back to rest of those present and smiling. At last, her favorite part of the night had arrived - the point when all of the children, parents, and other general party-poopers went home for the night, leaving those who could afford to stay up later free to enjoy themselves.Now the party could really start.Not even a minute after the car had pulled away from the lo

“And what about this equation? You can’t use the same formula here, so…”“No, you can, but you have to do some conversion first. Right here and here.”Giving a sigh, Nanami looked back down at her homework and started to flip through the textbook again, trying to find the reference that this question was asking for. At least all she had to work on was history homework right now; just listening to some of the others trying to work their way through their math homework was already sta

The gentle chime of a bell above my door roused me, and for the second time today, I looked up in curiosity to see what I was going to have to deal with this time.To be clear, this was barely an issue, if you could even call it that, and it was entirely a problem of my own making; nobody was forcing me to maintain this many spellwards around town, or even really compensating me for it, as most people were completely oblivious to their presence. Those who knew about them also knew about me, and

“The votes for the last semifinals round are in, ladies and gentlemen, so without further ado our last contestant moving on tonight is…the Red Queen!”Stepping forwards and giving an elaborate curtsy, the victor smiled as the assembled crowd roared their approval, and as she moved back the venue’s host walked back into view, prompting another round of cheers from her eager fans. Looking backstage for a moment, DJ Bitch Tits flipped her microphone in her hand as she gave an elaborate wave

Whoever said that school would be the best time of your life was delusional.More specifically, they were either delusional or had been lucky enough to escape the attentions of the resident divas. Or had been in one of the little cliques themselves. What I had learned up to this point was that the less time I spent in any area where they could potentially run across me, the better. There was no use trying to actually talk them down, or do much anything else to try to get them off my back; all

“C’mon! Again, do it again!”“Show her who’s boss!”“This is our turf now, chumps! GET LOST!”Hefting one last bottle and hurling it over the heads of the retreating gangers, Vanessa gave one last whoop of excitement as the rest of her clique joined in and cheered. This had been a long time in coming, and had involved more planning than she was really comfortable with trying to get the rest to follow, but finally the Pizza Punks had managed to corner and then chase off their riva

“Were there any more stores that you wished to visit, ma’am?”“Just one or two further down this street. I had wanted to stop by Vivi’s shop while she’s still open today and pick up a few things that I had ordered from her.”“Of course, my lady.”Adjusting her grip on the boxes and bags that she was carrying, Gwen followed along behind her mistress as they made their way down the winding street. Ordinarily, she would be doing this herself, but today was a rather special day, and

“Hey Jessica, you forgot to open up the front…Jessica? You in here?”Setting her bag down by the door to the security room, Amy looked around in confusion at the empty room. Normally Jessica was more than eager to head home by the time her shift was over, so her not being ready and waiting to head out was a first. Neither had any of the normal prep work been done, which would ordinarily include unlocking the front doors. At least the cleaning work had been done, although that wasn’t s

“Stella, wait up! Why’d you run so far ahead?”“Cause we need to catch the bus! Hurry up!”Moving along as fast as she could behind her friend, Molly was doing her best to keep up, but there were several things that were all combining to do their best to keep her lagging behind Stella. Chief among them was her actual costume; while a classic (and easy to make to boot) the sheet that she had chosen for her ghostly disguise was long enough to be an almost constant tripping hazard. In c

“Just keep moving. Need to keep moving. Can’t be far now, just have to keep moving.”Whispering the same thing to herself over and over again, Jessica knew that it was one of the only things keeping her going. Although she could check her watch, she wasn’t sure if it would tell her anything useful right now; ever since they had set out the entire expedition had been plagued by malfunctions and strange occurrences in their equipment. There wasn’t any use in looking up to the sky eith

“Good luck, and may you have good fortune in the future!”Watching as the pair of ladies stood and ducked out of her store, Ruby shook her head and started to shuffle the tarot cards laid out on the table back into the deck. With the cards she had drawn, about the only good fortune coming in their life anytime soon would be for the one who got an impromptu dinner on their behalf. Of course, that was the risk with dealing with a reading like this one while not having any faith in the underly

Taking a sip from his glass, as Frey looked around at the interior of the great hall and the many guests mingling within, he had to admit that if nothing else, the hostess knew how to throw a party.Between the sumptuous decorations, attentive staff, and expansive array of refreshments, the guests lacked for nothing, and it was obvious that they knew it. Almost every one of the region’s movers and shakers were in attendance, and there were quite a few people in attendance that Frey didn’t re

“Now, where oh where has the last little one gone? Don’t you want to -BUUUUAAARRRP- mmm, be with your friends?”Hearing the voice coming closer and closer, Emily just continued to cower behind the fallen tree that she had taken shelter behind. She couldn’t move now, not without risking the woman hearing her, so all that she could do was try to remain out of sight. She was shaking so badly that she could barely move, and with every step closer she could hear that horrible groaning, chur

Looking up at the night sky was always an interesting proposition for me. This late at night, there were few people out and about, so I didn’t need to worry nearly as much about actually being seen. The locals were still not the kind who I could just casually show myself to, so times like this were something that I always tried to take advantage of.Of course, looking up at the stars just reminded me of the fact that somewhere out there was my actual home.I had a reasonably good idea of where